Wednesday, April 27, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1724: Checking In

It seems that lately I haven’t been here very much (blogging, I mean.) Even though I have felt that I am busier than ever, Between starting off the year with a tremendous amount of orders, getting sick for a couple of weeks and then ‘catching up’ with things, I have felt very much out of my regular routine. I don’t know if that is a bad thing or a good thing, as I am still accomplishing a lot, but just not in the usual places.

Add to that we are planning to move in several weeks. While the move won’t occur until the final weeks of June or the beginning of July, we have so much planning to do that it has been taking quite a bit time to plan, shop and get things ready for the change. Even though it is only about a kilometer away, it will be a huge change for us. We will still be right near the beautiful Meteghan river and in the same neighborhood, which is wonderful, but we will move our little business from a one bedroom apartment to a full house with probably four times the room PLUS a huge, two story barn which we will be able to use for storage and eventually for a shop. The potential is tremendous.

I think that I am most excited that I will be able to have my own “studio”. I know that sounds “La-de-da” but having a room to call my own is something that I have always longed for. Even when growing up, I spent most of my years sharing my room with my sister. Ironically, soon after my parents finished an addition on our house and I moved into my own room, I left for university and only was able to enjoy my personal space occasionally when I came home on break. Such is life …

My room at the new place is about 12’ x 12’ in diameter, with the staircase on the side making it look even larger. It is on the front corner of the house and has a large front window and one at the side, making it extremely bright and cheerful. The floors are beautiful birch and it has two lovely glass pane French doors which lead to the main living area which I can close for quiet and privacy. I admit that I have been spending a good amount of time browsing online for furniture that will be both functional and beautiful as well as provide storage for my supplies and things that I am working with. It has truly been a lot of fun.

I pretty much have everything I want picked out though now and it is time once again to get back to other things that are pressing. I have so many designs in my head in so many different types of media that I can hardly decide which direction to head first. I have painting designs as well as my scrolling designs that are already 'in progress’. I also have designs for some embroidery kits that I really want to see come to reality. Then there are the wood orders that have been a mainstay for my business this year. I can’t help to think how wonderful it will be to have a designated place to cut wood and do woodworking. Many of you may not know that I currently do this all in my kitchen. It is quite the process both before and after each session to keep things clean and neat. What a luxury (AND time-saver!) it will be to be able to walk into a room and just start cutting! It will save me literally hours of work and clean-up time!

Yes – good things lie ahead for us!

My mother-in-law’s surgery went well last week. Everything went as planned and we are very releaved to say that she is home and well on her way to recovery. She had her knee replaced and now she is in the midst of the physical therapy that typically follows this type of thing. She did well before the surgery, preparing herself completely and exercising and even losing a bit of weight. We are really proud of her! I plan on being with her tomorrow, so I doubt that I will blog then, as we need to leave here early. I am going to bring some work with to her place and see how much I can get done there. We shall see.

There is part of me that misses posting every day. I wonder if that isn’t why I feel a bit unorganized in my thoughts and work. I can’t tell if I am a bit out of kilter because I haven’t been blogging or if I haven’t been blogging because I am a bit out of kilter. Maybe just a little bit of both. One thing that I am certain of though is that there are going to be a lot of wonderful things to come. I ask that you all have faith in me and keep checking back. I am surely going to get back on track and get back into the habit of posting every day again. I can assure you of that. Perhaps it is just a time for me to break away for a little and focus on other things for a while. I feel that is the right thing to do.

With that said, I do want to show you a new pattern that Keith created and posted to the site.

In closing today, I want to thank you all for your wonderful notes and well-wishes for Keith’s mom. (Dianne) We all appreciate so much that you are thinking of us and while I miss visiting with many of you online, I know it is a temporary situation and soon I will be back. Sometimes life calls us to other directions.

Have a wonderful day and a great week ahead. Remember each day is what you make it. We have more control over our lives than we may realize.